1997 Ford Ranger - One Bolt At A Time

Dustin Scheele's Ranger Is Truly Home-Built

By Kevin Whipps, Photography by Brad Walker

Sport Truck, April 01, 2009

Dustin Scheele * Crump, Tennessee'97 Ford RangerThere are a lot of people out there who claim they do everything themselves. They go out, buy themselves a nice truck that someone spent a lot of time building into something cool, and then take all of the credit. This is not that truck and this is not that owner. Dustin Scheele of Crump, Tennessee, has been working on cars since he was a little kid, turning wrenches with his Dad, who built street rods. Since then, he's had a few builds under his belt, including a '72 Ranchero and a '73 Maverick Grabber, but when it came time to build his first mini-truck, Dustin decided to go big--real big.

The truck was stripped down to the bare frame so that Dustin could get a fresh start on the chassis. The '97 Ranger that he had chosen as his project truck had the standard I-beam front suspension, which is a design that helped make Ford trucks famous. Of course, the beams aren't cool when laying a truck on the ground because of the mammoth amount of negative camber that the design exhibits during suspension travel. To fix that problem Dustin picked up a frame clip from an '86 Ford Mustang and decided to use that as a base for the project. From the new clip back, 2x3-inch steel tubing was configured to fabricate the new frame. With some fancy welding skills and a lot of knowhow, Dustin turned that frame into the air tank for the airbag suspension, which he designed for the truck as well. The rear of the chassis was set up with a '90 Mustang axle hung from a custom two-link rear suspension. Firestone 224c air bags were installed front and rear, as well as a set of 20-inch American Racing Casinos on each corner. Dustin had a rolling chassis and it was time for some power.

Part of the motivation for this build was power, specifically more of it. Dustin wanted a V-8, so he built a 306ci Ford engine with a Trick Flow intake, ported and polished heads, a Ford Motorsports cam, and BBK ceramic-coated headers. Once the new motor was dropped between the framerails, it was time to move on to the body.

The cab and bed were next on the to-do list, and Dustin wanted to make everything clean and smooth. The door handles, stake pockets, tailgate handle, and third brake light were welded smooth, and a rollpan was molded into the bed. Dustin also mounted a Cervini's hood with a 3-inch cowl to give the V-8 some breathing room. Since he wanted a hammered stance, he body-dropped the bed to match the cab, which was hung on the new frame low enough to get the rockers on the concrete. Once everything was reassembled, the truck was sprayed in a custom Cadillac diamond white and violet pearl two-tone paintjob, separated by a chrome accent stripe.

For the inside of his truck, Dustin decided to continue with the Mustang theme and modified a stock Mustang dash to fit inside the mini's cab. Accomplishing this involved a lot of cutting and fiberglass work, but the finished product really makes the interior pop. The door panels were also modified to match the dash, and everything was painted to coordinate with the exterior.

It took a lot of time, and even more money, but Dustin handled his entire build by himself. The truck now rocks shows across the country and is taking home trophies left and right. The Ford Ranger isn't the most popular mini to build, but if more people start building them like Dustin, that might change.